Jimmy Carter - The hostage crisis

The consequences for the United States of the Iranian revolution were not
limited to higher oil prices. Since 1945, the United States had expressed
strong interest in this oil-rich country, opposing Soviet efforts to gain
a position there in 1945–1946 and opposing also the nationalization
of the Iranian oil industry under the leadership of Prime Minister
Mohammed Mossadegh in 1951–1953. After contributing to the
overthrow of Mossadegh and obtaining access to Iranian oil for American
companies, the American government supplied large amounts of aid to the
shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and to his efforts to westernize the country
and make it a military power. Those efforts aroused the ire of the Muslim
clergy, and the oppressiveness of the shah's regime generated
opposition from others. Revolts erupted and gained strength during 1978,
forcing the shah to flee early the following year and leading to the
establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the leadership of a
Shiite Muslim leader, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, who was determined that
Islam, not Western influences, should reign in Iran. On 4 November 1979,
shortly after the shah entered a New York hospital for treatment of
cancer, several thousand Iranian youths seized the American embassy in
Teheran and took most members of the staff hostage, demanding that the
United States return the shah.

Carter faced another enormously difficult problem. He tried to free the
hostages without taking military action, relying chiefly on diplomatic and
economic pressures, including the freezing of Iranian assets in the United
States. He obtained help from others, such as United Nations Secretary
General Kurt Waldheim. Thirteen female and black staff members were
released shortly after they had been seized, but the others remained
captive. In April 1980 a frustrated president broke with past policy and
(over the opposition of Secretary Vance) authorized a military rescue
operation. It had to be aborted, however, when three of the eight
helicopters involved developed mechanical problems, and, in pulling out,
one of the helicopters collided with a transport plane, killing eight men
and injuring others. The captors released an ill hostage in July, and the
Iranian government, now suffering an invasion from Iraq, soon announced
conditions for the release of the remaining fiftytwo, but more weeks would
pass before they were free.